Fights
I need to write these separately. SSK vs. N&M SSK charges towards the duo, and as he gets closer Miss Risus hands Quartz a knife. Both of them evade SSK's initial attack but during Nathaniel's evasion he expeditiously created lengthy cuts on both of his forearms using the knife. SSK doesn't think much of it and, at an amazing speed, grabs Nathaniel by the neck and begins to choke him. Miss Risus deliberately stands aside and begins to laugh, but not at her partner. SSK's blind rage hinders him from discerning the blood seeping out of Nathaniel's arm, which is beginning to take shape. However, SSK's notices something is wrong when Quartz begins to smile and, looking around, SSK manages to narrowly dodge a spear — one made out of Nathaniel's blood. Unlike any enemy he's faced before, SSK scrutinizes Quartz but forgets about Risus and is subsequently shot, with the bullet penetrating his ribs. The bullets from Risus' pistols, the Bangers, are infused with toxic gases, so if SSK didn't bleed out he'd die from blood poisoning. Refusing to die in vain, SSK releases a powerful omnidirectional wave of energy that knocks back both of his opponents. His gunshot wound then heals, but he is unable to expel the poison from his system, which painfully begins to deteriorate his body. Believing he can take on Quartz, SSK focuses his attention on Risus, who he believes is his biggest threat at the moment due to her weapons. As he plots his next move, SSK suddenly begins to grasp his chest and collapses on the floor. Nathaniel, being able to manipulate blood, blocked the flow of blood to SSK's heart, inducing a heart attack. AIA&Collector vs. N&M Because of their similar abilities, AIA and Nathaniel are evenly matched. Having prepared for such a situation, AIA resorts to psychological attacks in order to weaken his opponent's defense. By simply smiling and retorting optimistic remarks, AIA manages to infuriate Nathaniel, who believes the robot is trying to belittle him. Quartz lets his emotions get the best of him and slips up, allowing AIA to puncture him with a triangular blade construct. Trained to only exercise killing as a last resort, AIA made sure to avoid any major organs or arteries. Impaled by the robot's blade, Nathaniel smiles and remarks that AIA should have killed him when he had the chance. Augmenting his strength via blood pressure manipulation, Quartz punches a whole straight through AIA's chest and completely destroys his torso by generating a series of long blades around his bloody fists. Collector confronts Miss Risus in the main hall where she politely asks him to wait as she's almost done extracting the HQ's data. Evidently unable to follow through with her request, Collector attempts to incapacitate her by throwing a stun grenade but before he is even able to throw the projectile, Risus shoots it mid-typing without even looking, causing Collector's plan to backfire and stunning himself. Risus doesn't allow him to recover either, launching a series of strikes and knocking him to the floor, where she holds Collector at point-blank range with her Bangers, the guns used to poison SSK. Normally there would be no escape from this type of situation, so Risus wasn't expecting to get punched in the face by Collector. As Miss Risus basks in pain, Collector takes advantage of the situation and kicks away her pistols and arms himself with his own weaponry. Nathaniel prepares to leaves the showers and assist Risus but, to his surprise, he is unexpectedly grabbed by AIA and slammed against the shower stall. Unbeknownst to Quartz, AIA is capable of repairing himself via nano machines that reattach disconnected limbs. Admitting that he underestimated his opponent, AIA explains that he'll now attack with full force, which offends Nathaniel since AIA was never taking the fight seriously until now. Intent on discontinuing their construct battle, AIA dodges Nathaniel's constructs and charges for him. Nathaniel instinctively forms a shield from his blood, but this defense is rendered useless against AIA's tactile telekinesis, an invisible field of telekinetic energy. Slammed across the shower stalls and the room's walls, Nathaniel remembers that there are trace amounts of several different metals in blood, and the fact that he could manipulate blood means that it's possible he also has some control over these metals as well. Deciding to test this theory, Quartz struggles to manipulate AIA but inevitably manages to slam the robot against a wall after much strain on his forearm. John vs. Nozus *Setting: Underwater base beneath Zhao Industries oil rig Nozus, realizing he can't take on John single-handedly, makes a risky jump over a railing to a platform in an attempt to activate another android that he kept hidden from the team. John follows but slips on the railing, leaving him hanging from the platform and dangling from the abyss below. He begs Nozus for assistance, who simply stares apathetically. John loses his grip on the platform and falls, only to be saved by Nozus' new android: AIA MK II, codename "Purple." Nozus explains that the new AIA, Purple, is not the same as his predecessor, and likewise doesn't retain the former's memories. On Nozus' command, Purple flings John across the base, with him crashing through various platforms and slamming through the wall of the base, puncturing a hole in the process and having water spew through. Nozus expresses little annoyance, claiming he was going to destroy the base anyways. Purple retrieves John from the water and attempts to throw him again but John clings onto the android's head and begins negating its energy, something Nozus forgot John was capable of. Purple attempts to resist so he mutates his hand into a spike and elongates his arm, stabbing John as well as pushing him to the other side of the facility. A pointless move, John is still able to negate its energy by holding onto its arm, causing Purple to retract it, bringing John closer and allowing him to perform one final, energized punch on Purple, decapitating him in the process. With the underwater base beginning to cave in and his trump card destroyed, Nozus still has one final ace up his sleeve. John, still merciful, offers to get the both of them to safety but Nozus isn't hearing it.